Champaign man found guilty of deadly shooting near U. of I.

Champaign Police Department

Robbie Patton, 19, of Champaign, was convicted Sept. 28, 2017, of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in the 2016 shooting that killed George Korchev, 22, of Mundelein, and wounded three others.

Robbie Patton, 19, of Champaign, was convicted Sept. 28, 2017, of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in the 2016 shooting that killed George Korchev, 22, of Mundelein, and wounded three others.

A Champaign man who fired a gun into a crowd, killing a Mundelein man and wounding three others near the University of Illinois campus in 2016, was found guilty of first-degree murder Thursday, according to the Champaign County state’s attorney’s office.

Robbie Patton, 19, of the 500 block of East Washington Street, was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm for the fatal shooting in the 300 block of Green Street in Champaign’s bustling Campustown area, State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said.

The shooting, authorities said, occurred Sept. 25, 2016, after a fight broke out in an apartment in the area and spilled out into a parking lot. Patton fired shots that hit four bystanders, including 22-year-old George Korchev, of Mundelein, authorities said.

Korchev, who was supposed to start a job as a registered nurse at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, died of his injuries. That weekend, he had gone to visit two friends, who were also wounded in the shooting.

Both of them, in addition to Korchev’s girlfriend who was also with him at the time of the shooting, testified this week at Patton’s trial.

On Thursday, the jury deliberated for about two hours before delivering the guilty verdict.

“This obviously was a very traumatic event at the University of Illinois, the community and for the victim’s family,” Rietz said. “We are very proud of the work done by the Champaign Police Department and very pleased with the verdict."

Patton is scheduled to return for sentencing Nov. 8. He faces a minimum of 45 years in prison.

Robbie Patton, who turned himself in to authorities late Thursday in...

The 18-year-old suspect in the shooting death of a Mundelein man in Champaign had been arrested earlier this month, less than two days after being paroled from a state corrections department boot camp, authorities said Thursday.

Robbie Patton, who turned himself in to authorities late Thursday in...